


The Quiet.

by Rhinkhearted



Category: Rhett & Link, rhink - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Crying, Dont worry this doesnt end bad, Fluff, Love, M/M, Secrets, Slight blood due to minor injury, rhink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-20 01:22:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7385338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhinkhearted/pseuds/Rhinkhearted
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhett notices Link has been acting strange lately and decides to confront him about it. Things don't go the way either of them planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Quiet.

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn't going to be very long, but I got carried away.

Link stared at Rhett from across the table they were seated at waiting on their meal, the taller man was rattling on about some new 'layer' he had discovered about himself but Link had zoned out long ago. His mind was rushing through a thousand different things at once only staying on one subject for a nano second before flitting to another.

Rhett knew Link had zoned out, it wasn't unusual for this sort of thing to happen on their outtings together. He figured Links mind was elsewhere thinking of who knows what, but he kept talking to him anyway because it had become routine. Rhett would ramble and Link would pretend to listen, but it had gotten more frequent recently and it slightly concerned Rhett.

Link snapped out of his 'trance' as Rhett liked to call it from time to time, as the waitress brought the meal to the table. Link watched as the red headed women fluttered her eyelashes at Rhett while asking if he wanted anything extra, she looked a little upset when Rhett polity rejected her offer of giving him a 'special dessert' later.

Rhett looked over at Link once she left and gave him an eyeroll, he noticed Link looked a little tense and he raised his brow in question but Link just gave him a nonchalant wave of his hand. 

They ate their meal in relative silence, only speaking here or there in between bites to comment on the food on their plates or an idea for an episode of good mythical morning. It wasn't unlike them to not say much while eating, Rhett always got super in to his dish and Link tried not to nit pick his own when he found something in it he doesn't eat like tomatoes. Eventually the meal came to an end and each of the pulled out $10 for their food and $3 for tips, they paid and then stood up and stretched before heading to the car. 

Link climbed into the passenger side of the vehicle and Rhett went around to the drivers side, he turned on the engine and they made their way out of the small parking lot. On the ride back to Links house he was silent once again, he kept his eyes focused on the road ahead and his hands fumbled idly in his lap.

Rhett was starting to get annoyed with Links quietness, he wanted to say something but wasn't sure what. He could just confront him about it or he could turn on the radio and ignore how weird Link was acting at the moment. He decided the radio was a good option and leaned forward to turn it on.

Link glanced at Rhett, he seemed irritated about something, Link guessed that it was his fault since he hadn't been very connected to their conversations today. Rhett turned the radio on and a high nasally voice filled the car, it was an advertisement for a puzzle company they had once gotten a puzzle from and the voice belonged to one of the owners named Nora. Link smiled at the memory of himself and Rhett putting together a puzzle and losing a piece without knowing which lead to them calling and accusing the company of shorting them one. By the end of the phone call they had wound up basically cuddling on the couch in their office. Link wished he could go back to that moment, right before Rhett had gotten up and acted as though cuddling Link was the weirdest thing he'd ever done. Link wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even himself but it had left him feeling hurt. Ever since then things had been a bit weird between himself and Rhett, they would do things that didn't seem fit for best friends to do even if it was for entertainment purposes only and then after filming Rhett would hurry off to the bathroom to wash up and then he'd act strange whenever he saw Link the next time. 

Rhett looked over at Link and saw that his brows were furrowed and he had his wedding ring off and was fiddling with it. He sighed and turned his attention back to the road, they pulled up on front of Links house and Rhett turned off the ignition. If he was going to confront Link It was now or never, he reached out and grabbed Links wrist before he had the door all the way opened to exit the car.

Link felt Rhetts hand around his wrist, he stopped with the door half open and turned to face himHe looked into his eyes and saw how concerned Rhett looked, he immediately felt ashamed for being so weird today.

"Link, I think we need to talk" tumbled out of Rhetts mouth like it had been on the tip of his tongue all day, and honestly it had been.

"I know, Rhett." Link looked down at his wrist where Rhetts large hand still grasped it. "I just don't know what to say."

"I only want to know what's got you so quiet lately." Rhett followed Links gaze to his hand on his wrist, he knew he should let it go but felt like Link might rush off without explaining himself. So he left it there.

"It's just, I've been thinking..A lot." It wasn't a lie, he had been thinking a lot and it was clouding up his mind. Link didn't think he should go in to detail about what exactly he had been thinking of though.

Rhett knew Link wasn't going to spill the beans as easily as he hoped but he figured he could guilt trip him in to telling, he knew it wasn't nice to play dirty like this but he had no other choice. He looked in to Links eyes and saw that Link seemed nervous.

"Maybe we shouldn't hang out for a while, outside of work I mean." Rhett saw Links facial expression turn from nervous to panicked and felt like an asshole.

"N..no..I'll explain myself" the words rushed out of Links mouth. he didn't want to tell Rhett what had been troubling him but if not telling him meant not seeing him outside of work then he'd rather tell and hope he understood. 

Rhett gave Link an encouraging smile, he even loosened his grip on his wrist. He didn't want Link to hide things from him, he had never hidden things before so why start now?. He waited patiently for Link to start his explanation.

"I've been thinking, of our past." Link paused, he didn't know how to continue his sentence but he knew he had to so he pushed on. "Thinking about you and..and I." The words were barely audible but they were out.

Rhett gave a puzzled laugh, he always thought about himself and Link there wasn't anything weird or wrong about that and he told Link that very thing. 

When Rhett laughed and told him he thought of himself and Link all the time, Link shook his head sadly. Rhett hadn't understood what he meant and now he was going to have to go in to more detail. He took a deep breath and readied himself for his next words.

"No, Rhett. You don't get it, I think about you and I..as a..couple." his words were slightly strangled, as if he had been drinking and it went down wrong. That had not come out the way he'd hoped it would, he had hoped to sound cool and collected even if he didn't look it.

It took Rhetts' mind a moment to compute what Link had just told him, after all these years he realized that Link felt the same way he had felt back in highschool when Link lost his baby fat and his hormones caused him to hide many an erection whilst in Links presence. He felt an excited/nervous giggle bubbling up from his chest and it spilled from his lips before he could stop it.

A giggle was the response Link got from Rhett, he felt like he was being laughed at. Like Rhett thought it was a joke or just silly that Link would ever think of them in that way. It hurt worse than all of the times Rhett had acted weird after them touching or getting too close even if it was he himself who had initiated it on multiple occasions. Link felt tears sting the back of his eyes and he yanked hard on his arm, once free from Rhetts grasp he pushed the door open quickly and jumped out slamming the door behind him. By the time he was approaching the sidewalk he couldn't see anything through his tears which caused him to miss his cue to step up on to the raised cement path and he tumbled to the ground when the nose of his shoe caught on the edge. 

Everything had happened in such a rush, one minute Rhett was about to confess to Link about his own thoughts of them as a couple and the next minute Link was crying and tumbling to the rocky ground. Rhett rushed from the car over to where Link was sprawled out on the ground, rocks stuck to his palms and the knees of his pants were torn. Tears stillStreaked his reddened face. Rhett knelt down next to him but Link wouldn't look at him, instead he focused on picking pebbles from his palms. Rhett noticed at the same time Link did that tiny red dots were starting to sprout up from wherever he removed one of the pebbles, they both knew that Link was bound to faint if he kept this up. 

Quickly Link closed his eyes, trying to block out the sight of his bleeding palms. He felt stupid and sore, here he was on the ground with tears drying on his cheeks and seconds from fainting. On top of that he was pretty sure his best friend thought he was gross for thinking of them as anything more than best friends or possibly brothers.

Rhett took Link gently by the elbow and hoisted him up on to his feet. "Let's get you inside." Rhett lead him to the door, he noticed Link still had his eyes closed tightly so he made sure to be extra careful while leading him inside after fishing around in his pocket for the spare key Link had made for him.

"I..can handle it..from here." Links voice was horse from crying and his head hands and knees all throbbed. He tried to wrench his elbow free from Rhetts hand but the man wouldn't let go. Link sighed and gave up the fight.

Rhett snorted a laugh and then clamped his empty hand over his mouth, the results of what happened last time he laughed wasn't pleasant and he really didn't want a replay of it. "Listen, Link..there's something I need to tell you, but I think we should get you cleaned up first." Rhett was already leading Link to the bathroom as he told him this, Link just nodded and went along.

Once they reached the bathroom Rhett sat Link down on to the toilet lid, when Rhett let go of his arm Link let his hands rest palms up on his thighs. He opened his eyes slowly and felt dizzy but didn't think he would be fainting any time soon so he kept them open.

Rhett pulled the first aid kit out from under the cabinet and shook his head when he saw that it was still un-opened despite it being a Christmas gift from him to Link 3 years ago. Without a word he ripped the plastic wrapper off and unlatched the lid, he retrieved two big bandages, some gauze, two Q tips,medical tape and neosporin, and an alcohol wipe before closing it back up. He sat the kit on the floor and then knelt down in front of Link, he cleaned up his knees first and then gently placed a bandage on each one and then he did the same to Links palms except this time he taped gauze to them. Once finished he stood up and looked down at Link.

"Rhett, about what I said in the car..." Link started but Rhett held up a finger to cut him off. Link bit his lip and sat quietly waiting to hear whatever it was Rhett had to tell him.

"Link, I'm not really sure of how to tell you this, so I'm just going to say it before I chicken out." Rhett looked down at his shoes for a moment before forcing himself to look Link in the eyes. "I have always wished for us..to be something..something more than best friends, more than brothers even..but I never knew how to tell you and I didn't think you felt the same. So I bottled it up inside and well, things started getting touchy feely recently and I was freaking out a bit." Rhett sucked in a deep breath, saying all of that had taken a lot out of him but at the same time he felt better than he had in years.

Link sat dazed on the toilet lid, his mouth opening and closing making him look like a fish out of water. His head was spinning and the world was going black, next thing he knew Rhett was grasping his shoulders and looking worried.

"Wha..what happened?." Alright Link knew what happened, he knew he'd fainted but he didn't want to acknowledge it. His head was reeling, did Rhett honestly just confess to having feelings for him? Certainly Link had to have heard him wrong, maybe he had hit his head when he fell and didn't realize it.

"You alright Linkster?." Rhetts voice was full of concern, he looked Link in the eyes trying to see any signs that something might be wrong. Had Link hit his head without either of them noticing? Surely not. When Link nodded andWinced Rhett made the decision to heft him up off the toilet and haul him to the bed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. At first Link struggled with him, wanting to walk to the bed on his own but he soon gave in when he stumbled and almost went down to the floor. 

"I'm staying here tonight, Link" the bed was big enough for two and Rhett had shared many beds with Link so this would be no problem. He sat Link on the bed and bent down to pull the man's shoes off, he tossed them to the side and then lifted Links legs up and positioned them on the bed. He kicked his own shoes off and went around to the opposite side of the bed, he turned on his side facing Link who was already facing him. The air was thick with tension and both men could feel it deep in their bones. now that it was out they had each wanted more from their relationship it felt strange to be sharing a bed, not strange in a bad way but more in an 'we can do whatever we want, but have no idea where to start' way. 

"Rhett, I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. I should have told you sooner." Link sighed he should have told Rhett a year ago how he felt, maybe things would be different right now.

"As should I have told you sooner, I've loved you since high school and I was too much of a pussy to say anything." He looked at Link with half lidded eyes, sleep was coming to take him to dream land but he wanted to see Links reaction to his words.

Links face lit up upon hearing that Rhett had loved him since high school, before he knew exactly what he was doing he was crushing his lips against Rhetts. Their noses bumped together and it hurt a little but not bad enough for either of them to stop what they were doing. 

Their hands were in each other's hair and on each other's necks, the bandages on Links palms caused a weird sensation on Rhetts flushed skin it didn't bother him though. Their kisses were desperate and clumsy and they fumbled around like amateurs but it didn't matter, they were doing what each of them had secretly wanted for a long time and it felt like the world was lifted off their shoulders.

After what seemed like an hour they broke apart gasping for air, they looked at each other taking in the sight. Their hair was a mess and their lips were red and swollen, giggles of joy erupted from each of them and Rhett pulled Link close to him nuzzling his face in the almost black locks. 

"I love you, Link. I always have and I always will." As Rhett said the words he knew they were the truest words he had ever spoken to anyone.

"I love you too, Rhett. Always and forever." Links reply was just a little more than a whisper, sleep was closing in on him like a curtain call of sorts.

Rhetts heart soared like an eagle, he had never felt so happy in his life. He had all that he had ever wanted and he teared up a bit when he realized he had always had it but just didn't know it yet. 

Soon both men drifted of to sleep, Rhetts face buried in Links hair and Links head resting against Rhetts broad chest. Life couldn't get any better than that.


End file.
